Quiche aux fleurs de courgettes

Hello everyone. Sorry for the silence. We have been a bit busy with life lately. Fortunately, we were able to sneak away a bit to one of our favorite destinations, Italy. I’m sure I will eventually get to telling you all about it. Meanwhile, I’m so happy to be back home and to have some kitchen time. Here’s an easy dish that I made for a wonderful young lady who took care of our Ollie dog while we were away. I found some baby zucchinis in the garden with the flowers still attached and made a sort of variation of a stuffed zucchini flower dish I helped to make at Plum Lyon last summer. Since I only had a bit of zucchini, I decided to make a quiche with caramelized onions, goat cheese, fresh herbs, parmigiano, butter and a bit of olive oil.

a handful of herbs (I used chives, cilantro, basil, thyme, marjoram, and parsley.)

6-8 baby zucchinis with flowers attached

2 large eggs

3 T. cream or whole milk

1/4 t. black pepper

2 T. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

butter

olive oil

salt

Thinly slice the onion and caramelize it with some butter and a bit of salt. It should take about 10 minutes until the onions become translucent and golden. Set aside. After that, chop your herbs and mix it into the goat cheese. Go ahead and add the caramelized onions. The warmth should make it really easy to marry the herbs and cheese. Slice the zucchinis lengthwise into halves. Make sure to pop off and discard each flower stamen (the part with the the pollen). Butter a six inch cast iron pan or whatever baking dish you’d like to use. Line the bottom half of the zucchini, then a layer of most of the cheese mixture, then the egg and milk mixture. On top add the rest of the zucchini. I stuffed the flowers with the remaining cheese mixture to give the flowers a bit of a raised appearance. Top it off with the parmigiano and a little drizzle of olive oil. Start it cold in the oven and turn it to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 15 minutes then turn the oven on to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for an addition 10 minutes then broil on high for an additional 5 minutes to get a little browning on top.

I let it cool to room temperature and decorated it with cilantro blossoms, basil, and Scarlet Emperor bean flowers. It was served with a simple mixed green salad drizzled with sunflower oil. To drink, we had iced water infused with mint leaves. A perfect warm weather meal.